Charity ends in the House of Commons

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall says Justin Trudeau should give his speaking fee back to a Saskatoon charity. Despite wailing from Liberals, Wall didn’t back down and said it again.

Now, there are some who theorize that Wall wants to be the next federal Tory leader and that he was quick to jump on the bash-Trudeau bandwagon because it provides a pleasant diversion from all that fuss in the Senate. Wall has been somewhat ubiquitous of late, offering comments on a variety of issues; as far as the Senate goes, he’s calling for its abolition. If Wall is serious about someday replacing Stephen Harper, he will need this kind of exposure — but he had best keep his career hopes to himself. The current occupant of 24 Sussex does not take kindly to pretenders to the throne.

Ever keen to explore new areas of potential Liberal support in Western Canada, Trudeau was in Saskatoon in April, 2012 to address the Literacy for Life conference. Another keynote speaker at the event was Saskatoon MLA Rob Norris. On the poster advertising the literacy fest, Trudeau’s picture is about twice the size of Norris’s headshot. The other significant (but unstated) difference: Trudeau pocketed his premium speaking fee of $20,000 while Norris offered his wit and wisdom pro bono.

Despite one conference participant declaring Trudeau’s speech to be so pregnant with profundity that the fee was “worth every penny,” the event underlines a serious lack of judgment on behalf of the Liberal Party leader — a man who is worth quite a few pennies but often lacks something called common sense.

Clearly, Trudeau has not done anything illegal; he brought on this latest storm of controversy himself by offering to pay back any offended charities suffering from buyer’s remorse. There have been no takers thus far, despite the fact that Trudeau has the unenviable record of costing more at a charity fundraiser than he brings in.

They must be shaking their heads in the inner offices of the Harper government. All that hard work, all that positive communication and media liaison — and Trudeau goes and hangs himself.

This was certainly not the place the Liberals wanted to be as the Conservative government struggles to manage the Senate expense scandal fallout. Why would a wealthy MP expect to command top dollar as a motivational speaker at charitable events? Legalities aside, the optics are not just questionable but downright embarrassing. Politically, he has handed Stephen Harper a splendid reprieve. Trudeau’s newsmaking, combined with the House of Commons summer recess, might actually spell the end of the Senate scandal — and the prime minister can declare another communications victory of sorts.

Speaking of communications, the Prime Minister’s Office of Non-Communications was actually doing some proactive media work in connection with Trudeau’s paid speaking tour. PMO staffers sent two newspapers in Barrie, Ont., information about one of Trudeau’s efforts at the local Georgian College. Seems the event lost $4,000.

Now, the PMO is notoriously shy of journalists — avoiding anything approaching dialogue and usually offering a mute stare in response to any questions from reporters. But in this case, the kids in the PMO were very helpful.

Harper himself, of course, has generously refused to take credit for this communications coup. When he commented on the story from the G-8 conference in Ireland, the prime minister declared himself extremely well paid by taxpayers and said he certainly didn’t see any need for MPs to be moonlighting as speakers at $20,000 a pop. Oh, and about that PMO feed to the Barrie papers? When that question came, it was back to the mute stare.

But they must be shaking their heads in the inner offices of the Harper government. All that hard work, all that positive communication and media liaison — and Trudeau goes and hangs himself. This is something that the Harper hit team has not encountered in the past: Liberal leaders who beat you to the scandal and write the story for you.

This is not the first time that Trudeau has helped the Tories change the channel. Not sensing the potential for serious political damage with the Senate scandal, Trudeau has been missing in action on this file from day one. First, he came out against Senate reform because the upper chamber favours Quebec and now he is focusing attention on his own expense scandal.

The Liberal caucus has been disappointed before by their leadership selections. Remember Stephane Dion? Whoops. How about Michael Ignatieff? But after the seemingly interminable interim leadership of Bob Rae, surely to goodness the Grits couldn’t lose with a name and a face like Justin Trudeau. Happy days are here again. Or are they?

Trudeau is again proving that it takes more than charm and affability to be prime minister. Especially when you’re up against Stephen Harper — a man who dearly likes to win and keeps on doing so. Trudeau might expect to be paid by a charity — but he can expect no charity in politics.

David Krayden was raised on Vancouver Island and has written extensively on Western political issues over the years, including time as a columnist for the Calgary Herald. Krayden was the host of Calgary’s Liberty Today radio program and most recently worked as an editor for Sun News television. Krayden was a public affairs officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force and spent almost a decade on Parliament Hill as a communications staffer.

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